Spectre is a new iOS app using AI to create amazing long exposures with your smartphone

Chroma Noir, the makers of popular iOS camera app Halide Camera, have created a new AI-powered app designed specifically for shooting long exposures. Called Spectre, the app uses AI to analyse a scene and computational photography to create a long exposure effect.

Spectre works in a similar fashion to that which we’ve seen suggested before for when you leave the ND filters at home but still want to shoot a long exposure with your DSLR. That is to say, you shoot lots of images and then composite them in post. According to the app description, Spectre’s “intelligent computational shutter takes hundreds of shots over the span of a few seconds”, constantly optimising the exposure to prevent blowing things out or underexposing, which it then stores in a Live Photo.

It uses machine learning to help with its scene recognition and has an “AI stabilisation” allowing for exposures of up to 9 seconds. Handheld. Without the need for a tripod. At least, that’s what they say. I still think you’d need a pretty steady hand, though. If you do choose to use a tripod, the app is apparently smart enough to figure out that it’s steady and disable the feature to prevent the sorts of issues we occasionally see with stabilised lenses on DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

As mentioned, the app stores each long exposure as a Live Photo. So, you’re also able to go through and pick any individual frame and they can be shared with others in the same way that Live Photos usually can. Computational photography is used to combine the individual frames in a way that provides the best possible long exposure – or, at least, best simulation of a real long exposure.

More modes will make their way into the app in the future, according to Spectre’s developers, but they haven’t said much about what those modes will be yet.

The app is available to buy in the App Store now for $2.99 and requires iOS12. If they ever release this for Android, I’ll have to check it out and see if it lives up to its promises.